Thursday, January 7, 2016

Winter greetings from Fair Share Farm!

The winter has had its ups and downs so far, and I don't just mean the weather.

The first weekend in December saw us in Eau Claire, Wisconsin for a gathering of 200 or so CSA farmers. We learned a lot from our neighbors to the North and look forward to what they promise will be a biennial event. The keynote was titled" Awakening Community Intelligence: CSA Farms as 21st Century Cornerstones."﻿

We returned to the farm to find that our new Automatic Chicken Door had arrived!! Tom promptly installed the thing and we have been loving it ever since. It's light activated and runs on 4 AA batteries that are supposed to last for years. Hooray for the end of late night dashes through the snow to close the door!

Fridays in December were spent at the BadSeed hawking the last of the greens from storage and the high tunnel along with our ferments. Jalapeno en escabeche sold out quickly along with all of the greens.

We don't know quite how we will cope with the closing of the BadSeed market. For those who haven't heard, Brooke and Dan are closing the store front and market in order to focus on their home (that they are building themselves) and their family (which will have a new member this Spring). Tom and I are sad for the loss. We, more than any other farm, save the BadSeeds themselves, have come to rely on the space for market, for CSA distribution, for starting our fermenting business, and for buying local foods from our friends and neighbors.

A documentary film about the BadSeed is underway, so at least there will be a record of this amazing little revolutionary space that existed for a moment in time. The market remains open through February.

We have a couple of leads for spaces to replace the BadSeed distribution site. It is hard to replicate the space, the location, etc. for the 60+ members who have picked up their CSA share there. If you have any leads, we would love to hear from you!

Getting closer to the holidays, we visited our friends Liz and Katie at Happy Hollow Farm near Columbia, MO. Liz has been building up a storm of high tunnels and its impressive to see.

Tom and I flew to his hometown, Cincinnati OH for a few days around Christmas. There he is with all of his siblings, youngest to oldest: Mary, Jeanne, Tom, Margy, Fran, Cathy, and Bill.

We drove back to Missouri passing through Indiana and Illinois with the floodwaters lapping at the sides of the road.

And just after we got back to the farm, the snow started. Only a handful of chickens were brave enough to venture out in it.